Crimson and Clover Over and Over
by nufta
Summary: cop!rin and chef!haru au. image by luna-lifiora on deviantart. What was supposed to be a quiet day, like any other, turned out to hold the one moment that could turn their world around.


"What? ...Okay, is he at a hospital yet? ...Which one? ...On 5th and West, right? ...I'll be there as soon as I can!" Tachibana Makoto shoved his phone carelessly in his pocket and ran, as fast as he could, out of his apartment. His hands were shaking and he could feel the blood pounding in his temples fast.

_Where is Haru?_ Makoto thought to himself, desperately searching in his mind for a possible answer. It was all he could think about from the moment he got into his tiny car with the roof too low and the seat too far forward up until when he stepped across the hospital threshold and practically crashed into the reception desk from charging at it with such force and speed.

"Matsuoka Rin! Where is he?" Makoto could feel each word catch at the back of his throat as he attempted to keep his panic in check. He ashamedly felt more panic at the thought of how Haru would feel rather than how his friend was actually doing.

"He's currently in theatre, sir. There is a doctor here that will take you to the waiting area and will explain Matsuoka-san's situation further to you. If you will..." The receptionist gestured her hand over to a man in an unnaturally glaring white coat holding his head so slightly it was barely noticeable, in a inclined bowing position. _This can't be good._

Makoto had to resist with all his might to stop himself from running to the doctor and hurrying him along. The doctor had to take two steps for every one of Makoto's but the young man didn't care. He just needed to know if his friend was going to be okay.

"I'm afraid the situation is quite serious. The bullet, although missing his heart, is now lodged in his liver. There is little internal bleeding due to the fact that the bullet is still inside his body. We have two surgeons working on him now to make sure they perform the optimum procedure to ensure minimal damage. They may be...some time." The tone is his voice sent shivers throughout Tachibana's body, fearing the worst and unable to contact the only person he needed. And who needed him.

* * *

"_Patrol Unit 42B1, requesting back up."_

"Officer Matsuoka."

"Officer Yamazaki."

The radio fuzzed for a moment and Rin was caught in the moment, admiring the way the sun painted the leaves of the hunchbacked trees with golden spots here and there. He often admired nature's beautiful ways but he never let on that he thought of such romantic things.

"-_break in at the bank. Consider perpetrators armed and dangerous. Repeat. Armed and dangerous. Approach with caution."_

_"_Copy that." Sousuke spoke for him and flashed a smile his way after the radio went dead. "About time, eh?"

"You really shouldn't be getting so happy about an armed robbery, Yamazaki."

"You were secretly hoping for one too. You're just as bored of traffic patrol runs as I am, Rin." He smirked as Rin tried to stifle a smile - failing miserably - and raised his eyebrows at him.

"Shut up and just drive." Rin hurried his partner along to the crime scene. _Finally. _Rin thought. _Some action._

* * *

"Haru!" Rin called out into the empty hallway. "You in?" The smell of mackerel floating from the back of their apartment gave him his answer. "Jeez, Haru," he flung open the kitchen door only to be bombarded by the miasma of fish, "do you have to make the entire apartment smell of fish every Friday night?" He coughed slightly when the tastes in the air caught at the back of his throat.

"Be thankful it's not every other night." Haru muttered bitterly, shooting a glance at the maroon-haired man kicking of his shoes by the kitchen table and pulling out a chair for himself.

"We talked about that Haru," Rin sighed. "The neighbours were complaining about the smell." Haru said nothing save for a small _hmph _and another glare Rin's way. Rolling his eyes, Rin cracked a smile and got up, sauntering over to Haru and putting his hands on the chef's hips. "Don't be like that, baby." He mocked Haru, pouting at him. Haru did nothing. "Come on," Rin spoke softly this time, sincerity in his voice as he placed a whisper of a kiss right behind Haru's left ear.

He couldn't help but smile.

"Go and set the table." The young man with ebony hair shoved Rin off and chuckled softly. "Dinner will be ready in 10 minutes." As Rin left to go lay out the cutlery in the dining room, Haru shook his head to himself and smiled again. A word came to his mind. _Twitterpated. _That's how he felt. Almost every day, without fail, he would catch himself smiling foolishly or feeling giddy only to realise it was because his mind had wandered off to a certain police officer. Makoto would sometimes see this and just call him hopeless accompanied by that never-wavering soft smile of his. When he got the chance to hang out with his three best friends, Nagisa would hug him relentlessly and call him cute and Rei would just make a noise that sounded something like _tsk._

_How in character of him, _Haru would always think to himself.

"Oi! Haru!" Rin's dulcet tones drifted from the dining room into his ears and enticed him back to reality. _Shit. Almost burned the mackerel._ Haru shuddered at the thought of such a thing. "Is the fish ready yet?"

"Almost!" He called back. "Just another minute!" Haru took the pan off the grill and let the fish rest for a moment. Getting out his favourite ceramic plates - the white ones rimmed with tropical blue and painted with little underwater patterns - he set about placing the vegetables on. Rin had always teased Haru for having favourite plates but he couldn't help it. While not one to let sentimentality get in the way of his life, there were some things (like these plates, a gift from Nagisa and Rei on Haru's 19th birthday) that made his stoic personality melt a little bit. Nagisa always said that beneath his hard exterior, Haru was goo. A pure, mushy, romantic goo. Placing the fish on to the plate and topping with his Sauce Bretonne, Haru muttered to himself something about Nagisa being very wrong and that he wasn't goo on the inside.

Although Haru would always deny it, his four best friends knew otherwise. Especially the one who got to taste his cooking every night. Somehow, Rin felt that Haru expressed himself through his cooking. If he was pissed, Rin would know because he'd end up coughing on the bitterness, the spice or the sourness of Haru's meal. And if he was..._what was the word Makoto used_...twitterpated, he might just want to throw up from the sugary desserts Haru made for afters. Even though he knew that Rin couldn't stomach the sweetness, he couldn't help it.

"Here it is." Haru placed the dish in front of Rin and took the chair opposite. Raising their chopsticks to face level, they spoke in unison, _itadakimasu,_ and went about their eating.

"Mmm...Haru this is really good. Did you do something different?" Rin saw the most discrete of smiles creep onto Haru's face.

_He noticed. I've taught him well._

"Chilli and lime." Haru said dramatically, glancing at Rin's face through his eyelashes which effected a sound from the red-head somewhere between a scoff and a chuckle. " I marinated the mackerel in chilli and lime before pan-frying it. And instead of pouring the sauce over the fish, I poured it over the vegetables and placed the fish on top so the flavour in the skin wasn't over-powered by it." His smug face was too much for Rin.

_Jeez, that smug moron probably thinks he's the reason I noticed. Tsk. _

Rin took their plates into the kitchen once they had finished and pulled on the tap, filling the room with the sound of gushing water. He looked behind him to see Haru leaning against the door frame.

"What is it?"

"You haven't even changed out of your uniform yet, Rin."

"Ah, yeah." There was a pause and nothing but the cacophony of water against ceramic and metal surrounded them. "I just remembered what you, uh...told me a while back..." Rin trailed off. The silence came again as Haru took a moment to realise what he was talking about.

"Eh?!" His eyes widened with shock and excitement simultaneously. "Are you serious?" Rin chuckled.

"Of course I'm serious. Would I joke about such a thing?" He turned off the tap and began to scrub the dishes clean, placing them in order of size on the drying rack.

"How are you acting so nonchalant about it?" Haru lost his cool, incredibly flustered at the spontaneous proposition that lay before him.

"Well, I would be lying if I said I hadn't wanted to do it too. What can I say? I'm excited." Rin let out a soft laugh at Haru's reaction and from admitting himself that he had wanted to wear his police officer uniform in the bedroom. As he went back to the dishes, he heard Haru sigh from behind him and walk closer eventually resting his hands on Rin's hips and his forehead on the nape of his neck. Rin went to dry his hands on the dishtowel that was folded neatly at the side of the sink and threw it back as he turned around and swiftly pressed his lips against Haruka's. They instantly fell into each other, not wasting a moment to catch the other. Haru could feel Rin's tongue hover at his mouth's entrance, teasing him and enticing him into his own mouth. Hands were slipping lower and lower until Rin grabbed Haru's hands and before knew it, he was in handcuffs.

"What? This isn't what I had in mind when I said I might have a kink for police officers." Rin leaned over and murmured in his ear.

"But it's what I had in my mind." He smirked and twisted Haruka around so that he was facing away. "Shall we?" Rin spoke with such sultriness and seduction in his voice as he pushed Haru into the bedroom and closed the door.


End file.
